In February 2014 I shared the story of an Ethiopian 767 which was hijacked enroute from Addis Ababa to Rome. While somewhere over Sudan the captain went to use the restroom, at which point the first officer locked him out of the cockpit and declared that the plane was hijacked, requesting the plane land in…
Continue reading: Ethiopian Pilot Who Hijacked Plane Gets Sentenced To Therapy
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Sending mentally ill people to jail is just heartless and cruel, no matter where in the world you are.
As for airline companies that do not screen or evaluate their employees, that's a different animal alltogether.
Firstly, thank you very much for following up on this -- that's great. Many bloggers never tie loose ends, so thanks.
As far as the comment "The plane was down to just two minutes of fuel when it landed", it is not supported by the very useful article by the excellent John Walton. All we know is that 18 minutes had elapsed since the hijacker told ATC that he had 20 minutes of fuel left, but we don't know whether this was a bluff to try to elicit a response from the Swiss on the asylum question.
I'm an ex pilot who stopped flying due to depression. I wrote an article on news.com.au about my experience and how frankly the whole industry lacks support for mental health issues. I took myself out of flying and seeked support myself and I'm now better than ever. The sad reality is that most flight crew or trainee pilot's are afraid to speak out at the risk of suspension of licence or the end of their career. Just an open support structure from initial training and into the airlines that urges open discussion about a crew members 'struggles' should be encouraged. Currently even finding home life tough is treated by the aviation industry as a "leave it at home" issue. All these tragic events and occurrences could have been prevented full stop. This mostly isn't just about Pilot's going nuts and wanting to bring down an aircraft. The biggest threat is distraction. Doesn't matter If you locked 4 crew into the flight deck. If they are all overworked, undervalued and struggling with personal problems like family or money etc then an accident will still happen because they will not be focused on their job or not mentally capable in the event of an emergency.
This is the article I wrote for anyone curious.